Altered Universe
by NixKat
Summary: The 4th Hokage accidently summons the wrong God of Death. This sets his world on a rather different path.
1. Point of Change

The Fourth Hokage stood upon the head of the Boss of Toads, exhausted and bleeding. In one arm he carried his wailing newborn son, a sacrifice to save his people and preserve balance among the great monsters of the world. One such monster's baleful glare was trained on him, its nine great tails weaved through the air. The Hokage's free hand flipped through seals as he weaved a spell to end the threat to his village.

"Dead Demon Consuming Seal!" A chill entered Minato's soul and his blood cooked in his veins. The sky cracked with sourceless lightning danced across the night sky. The bright disk of the moon shadowed over and the stars seemed to dim. Everything around him seemed to freeze in place. Something felt wrong about this and he tried to recall his readings. The shinobi glanced over his shoulder at the summoned shinigami, from the depiction in Uzumaki scrolls, he was expecting a ghoulish man-thing in white robes.

This wasn't the death god the scrolls had promised.

Behind him an enormous shadowy bird perched on the warty skin of the Chief of Toads. Three shining white feathers seemed to glow against its dark body. The crimson eyes stared dumbly into space for a moment before focusing on Minato. It blinked slowly, one eye at a time.

 _ **OH, HMM… OH, DEAR...DID YOU SUMMON ME?**_ A voice croaked in the back of the ninja's head. Its head tilted and swiveled as it took in its surroundings. _**OH DEAR, I'M NOT FROM HERE AM I? HMM, THIS WILL CAUSE SOME PROBLEMS WON'T IT?**_

"Err...yes? I don't think I meant to summon you though, unless you're the Shinigami?"

 _ **I'VE BEEN CALLED THAT NAME BEFORE, YES, PERHAPS I CAN FILL IN?**_ The bird stretched forward, spindly legs sprouted from its shaggy neck for support. It stared the man square in the eyes. _**WHAT IS YOUR WISH?**_

Minato Namikaze frowned at the creature that was and was not the Shinigami. If it wasn't the Death God, his plans and his village were possibly fucked. However, he couldn't just dismiss it on the off chance that it was the being that he tried to summon and run the risk of it killing him and dooming everyone. The Hokage cleared his throat, "I need to seal that fox demon away before it destroys my village. It's too powerful for any kind of containment aside from this infant...and even then the entire beast would be too much. So Shinigami, I ask you to seal half of that monster into this child and half of it into myself!"

The ninja watched the bird's glowing eyes split their focus between him, the newborn in his arms, and the frozen fox behind them. Minato felt some relief when it pulled its head back to its shoulders. His brows knitted together when it began to preen, though since nothing moved aside from them he guessed that time wasn't an issue. After what felt like an eternity it stopped and pointed at him with its sharp beak.

 _ **HMM…**_ It started. _**I CAN DIVIDE YOUR FOX GOD. I CAN SEAL IT AS WELL. HOWEVER I REFUSE TO DO THIS AS YOU ASK. I AM GOING TO KILL YOU. IF HALF OF THE FOX GOD IS SEALED WITHIN YOU AND HALF WITHIN THIS CHILD, THEN IT WOULD BE BOTH ALIVE AND DEAD AT ONCE. I NEITHER TOLERATE NOR CREATE THE LIVING DEAD.**_

"But-" As soon as the shinobi tried to protest the god cawed raucously to drown out his voice.

It continued, _**I WILL FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO WITH THE REST OF YOUR FOX GOD LATER. UNLESS YOU WISH FOR ME TO LEAVE IT UNBOUND? IF SO I WILL BE ON MY WAY WITH YOUR LIFE AS COMPENSATION FOR MY TIME.**_

"No, that is not what I wish," Minato said. He bowed respectfully. "Half sealed is better than it roaming free at full power."

 _ **WELL THEN IT'S TIME…**_ Indeed time began to move again. The 4th Hokage watched as the demon fox weaved to avoid the sourceless lightning arcing across the sky. Its baleful glare fell upon him and he shivered from the intensity of its bloodlust. The fox lunged for them and he felt Gamabunta tense underfoot.

From the white feathers of the Death God's breast a thing arm sprouted forth. Bone white talons locked around the Kyuubi like those of an owl around a mouse. The fox demon struggled in the god's grasp, biting and scratching as it was dragged towards them. Glowing purple ichor dripped from the wounds that the beast inflicted on the pallid limb. Suddenly the bird's leg branched, the new foot grabbed the other side of the fox. Minato gagged at the sound of the Kyuubi being torn in two. The sight became much less gruesome as each half transformed into a ball of smokeless fire. His sigh of relief cut off by sharp points piercing into his ribcage.

"Goodbye Naruto," He wheezed and kissed the crying baby on the forehead. "Sorry daddy and mommy couldn't stay around to see you grow up."

The newborn fell from Minato's arms as he went limp. With his summoner dead, Gamabunta had no choice but to return to the home of the toad summons. The child landed softly on the bird shaped god's fluffy tail. It transported the both of them and the carcass of its summoner to the ground. Gently the Death God placed the swaddled infant next to the body its father. Black talons teased the cloth off of the baby and with white claws one of the fox flames was placed within the tiny human body. A black four pronged spiral wrapped itself around the child's navel. The baby's screams increased as the powerful energy mutated it. Ignoring the infant's pain the bird divided the remaining half of the fox's power into three uneven portions. With its own ichor and the child's blood it drew numbers around the seal to tie the power to the young human. The portions of power themselves were stuffed under the god's back feathers for temporary storage.

 _ **HELLO LITTLE ONE, YOU ARE SUCH A NEW LITTLE LIFE**_.The Death God cooed as it waited for other humans to come get the baby. _**I HAVE DONE YOU A GREAT WRONG AND I APOLOGIZE. MUCH HARM WILL COME TO YOU FROM MY ACTIONS THIS NIGHT, I WILL DO MY BEST, WITHIN REASON, TO COMPENSATE FOR THE DAMAGES DONE.**_

The bird watched the arrival of the man's comrades. With no other reason for its presence it faded out of the physical part of the world. Its feathers bristled as it entered the spirit world of this new universe. The magic of its family mixed with and altered the native energies as its relatives manifested. The Death God looked into the future with its center eye to see what might be in store for this world.

Only those on the brink of death could hear its annoyed screech.


	2. The Crab

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK

Naruto tried to ignore the muffled knocking at the front door. For a while he tapped his claws against the porcelain of the tub to resist the impulse to answer. Everyone important had a key and the boy didn't feel like dealing with strangers any more today. He buried his face deeper into his arms and pulled his knees closer to his chest as the rapping increased. He closed his eyes and waited for the person to get bored and leave.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK

Naruto flinched at the sudden knocking on the bathroom door. His pointed ears twitched as he listened for what was going on in the rest of his new apartment but could only hear music from outside. Annoyed now, the boy hissed, "This place is protected by the Hokage so you better leave!"

 _ **IF THAT IS A THREAT IT IS A POOR ONE, CUB CHILD, I HAVE NO REASON TO FEAR ANY KAGE.**_ Naruto recognised the freaky voice, he remembered it from last year. He climbed out of the tub, unlocked, and pushed open the heavy door. On the other side stood a tall dark man in black clothes, a white scarf looped around the man's thin neck, and his red eyes stared unblinking at the boy. This stare was different from the looks that the adults gave him when the was out around the village, Naruto could feel nothing negative about it.

"Kuro-sama! Nice to see you again!" Naruto hugged the dark man's waist. Stiffly the man patted the boy on the head in a manner that both of them understood was an affectionate gesture. Naruto let go and the dark man rummaged through his pockets; aside from old man Hokage, Kuro-sama was the only one who brought him birthday presents.

 _ **THIS IS YOUR SIXTH YEAR OF LIFE, CUB CHILD, I BRING YOU A SPECIAL GIFT .**_ Sitting in the middle of the dark man's pink palm was a bright blue crab with an oversized claw. _**THIS IS THE FIRST OF THE SPECIAL GIFTS THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE FROM ME. THIS IS THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATION, TRUE SHAPESHIFTING, NOT THOSE FLIMSY ILLUSIONS YOU WILL LEARN IN THE ACADEMY.**_

[Hey! Hey! Bro! Wanna fight?!] The crab said as it skittered energetically on the man's thin hand.

"Not really," The boy laughed. "What's yer name lil dude?"

The small crustacean waved it's big claw proudly and hopped into Naruto's hands, [I am Ichi! The first! The greatest!]

"Nice to meet you Ichi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!" The boy gave his new companion a big toothy grin.

 _ **COME CHILD, LET US PLAY GAMES AND FEAST ON UNHEALTHY FOODSTUFFS.**_ Noticing the change in the child's expression the man frowned. He closed one eye and the other went wide. After a moment of staring into space he nodded, _**HMM… I SEE.**_ The dark man seemingly pulled his face off and handed it to Naruto as a black stylized crow mask. _**THERE, NO ENEMY WILL RECOGNISE YOU BY SIGHT OR SOUND. NOW WE PARTY.**_

They went out and joined the festival celebrating the defeat of the fearsome nine tailed fox that attacked the village six years ago. Vendors selling special fox themed snacks lined the streets. In more open spaces there were game booths and puppet plays for children depicting the defeat of the monster that slew many of their parents friends and family members. There were musicians providing a sonic background for spontaneous dancing.

The dark man paid for all of their expenses with what Naruto saw to be fresh maple leaves and acorn caps. The vendors accepted these just as happily as they did real coins and paper money. Naruto asked out of hearing range of the people working the counters, "Kuro-sama what's up with paying folks with junk?"

 _ **CUB CHILD, HAVE THESE PARTICULAR PEOPLE BEEN KIND TO YOU?**_ Naruto thought about it. He recalled the looks and whispers. People telling their kids not to play with him. Getting thrown out of some stores and berated by the owners when he didn't do anything wrong. Naruto clutched the front of his shirt as he remembered it all and how it made him feel less than human. The boy opened his eyes to see the man bent over awkwardly at the waist and staring at him intently. A thin dark hand patted the kid's head stiffly, careful not to hit the crab perched upon Naruto's noggin. _**THEN I HAVE NO REASON TO TREAT THEM WITH RESPECT OR FAIRNESS. ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER AND A BAD TURN MAY BE REPAID IN KIND. THESE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN PETTY, SOME OUTRIGHT HARMFUL, TO SOMEONE I CARE ABOUT SO I AM REPAYING THEM WITH PETTY TRICKS.**_

"Huh, well if it's a trick how come I can tell what you're doing?" The boy asked. A long knobby finger tapped the black wooden mask on Naruto's face.

 _ **YOU CAN SEE THROUGH MY DECEPTION BECAUSE YOU ARE LOOKING THROUGH MY EYES. I AM THE ULTIMATE TRUTH OF ALL THINGS, I CAN NEVER BE DECEIVED.**_

With each transaction the dark man grew visibly happier. The gleaming white teeth shown off by the man's grin contrasted greatly with his deep brown skin. Naruto felt his mood improve as they cheated at street games and won prizes. The dark man's cawing laughter and goofy grin failed to reach the oblivious victims of his trickery. The only person who they didn't cheat was the Ichiraku ramen man who invited them in for a bowl after recognising Naruto's voice. They spent hours at the little ramen shop and the dark man told Teuchi-san and his daughter silly stories about his friends Coyote, Raven, and Spider.

Eventually the sun set and kids started yawning, signalling that it was time for Naruto to go home. The dark man tipped the shop owner with small rubies and lumps of silver before taking his leave. The boy rode on the man's narrow back and the crab rode on the boy's head. Thin dark fingers gripped ill gotten prizes firmly.

When they got back to Naruto's apartment it was dark and the boy was asleep. The dark one felt comfortable slipping out of his human form. Spindly black talons tucked the boy gently in bed with various stuffed animals that they'd won. The crab nestled deeper into the kid's spiky blond hair and watched as the bird tidied up the little apartment. Once finished the god faded out of physical reality.

In the morning Naruto woke to find his crow mask translucent and quickly fading. On the table Ichi danced around a pile of blackberries and earthworms.

[You're up! You're up!] The blue crab shouted upon noticing that the boy was awake. It waved its large claw at the pile on the table. [I don't sleep so I rustled up some grub! Eat up bro!]

"Those are worms." Naruto said as he pulled up a seat. Immediately he shoved a fist full of berries into his mouth and enjoyed the tart fruit. However he eyed the squirming earthworms warily.

[Yes, those are worms.] Ichi replied proudly. [Soft, easy to digest, and fully of protein and minerals! Great for growing bodies!]

Naruto frowned it the pink squirming critters but decided to give them a try. He picked up a worm, closed his eyes, and pretended that it was a noodle. It tasted like dirt and slime but the flavor was easily washed away by the black berries so he went ahead and tried another.

[Great! After breakfast let's go somewhere!] The crab said as it scuttled in circles. [Then I can show you my power!]

"We can go hang out in the back hills of the village," Naruto said around a mouthful of fruit. "There's not that many folks that stick around out there."

[Aww, I was hoping to fight something.] Ichi replied sadly.

"There's plenty of wild animals you can fight." Naruto tried to cheer up his little friend. Instantly the crustacean's energy returned.

[Yay!]


	3. The Queen

_~Approximately 6 Years ago~_

The earthquake was what woke her, but it was the enormous spike in the Dragon Pulse that got her attention. She'd opened the leyline node for her mother's funeral but the mystical energy only increased this much if someone was summoning an earth dragon or if the pulse were going out of control. Both scenarios meant bad news. Queen Sari lept out of her bed pallet, grabbed the sword her mother left her, and ran out of her tent. Outside other members of her caravan were awake and looking around the camp.

"Your Majesty! The Dragon Pulse!" The captain of militia yelled as she entered the Garden of the Fox Hero. The tall bald woman rapidly closed the distance followed by several other Roran warriors and the fugitive ninja they were harboring. The light of the full moons glinted off of their bronze armor. Wait moons? The sky flickered between the near crystal clear moonlit night it should have been and a bizarre iridescent blue sky with a smeared arc of the moon's phases stretching from horizon to horizon. And where did that mountain range come from?

"I know Tatsumi!" The young queen shouted back. She shed her orange dress quickly, leaving just her dark battle ready undergarments. Using a wristband she tied up her long light red hair into a ponytail. There wasn't anything Sari could do about the sky but the power of the leyline was her responsibility. At the top of her lungs she addressed her people, "Everybody keep calm and stay put!"

The Hero's Garden was one of the safest places in the capital in the event of an earthquake, as rare as those were in the Land of Wind. No large large trees or tall buildings were in it or near enough to fall in and on someone. However there were natural and human-made caves and chambers under the city that could collapse and cause sinkholes. The militia captain skidded to a stop and swung an arm out to gesture to her troop. "Secure the garden, ladies!"

The group of militia women split off for each corner of the garden and drove their chakra blades into the soft earth. The warriors flipped through handsigns as quickly as possible and chanted as they wove energy from the node and their own bodies to cast a spell. The queen and their captain joined them, staking their short swords into the ground. "Dragon Pulse: Stable Ground Technique!"

Black rune script spread out along the ground from the sunken swords to form a web-like net. Slowly the warrior women and and their queen pulled their blades out of the earth, taking care not to disturb the fixing spell. The land shook violently as the blue mountain range swam across the horizon. In the distance a massive three eyed fish breached under the light of an arc of blue moons. A billowing shroud covered its hulking form as it fell through the sky in seemingly slow motion. The being flopped onto the sand with a tidal wave of force that caused all standing to fall to the ground. The sky returned to normal as the beast vanished under the dunes.

"That was certainly something." The ninja fugitive said in a bemused tone as he stood. He offered the queen his scaly hand which she used to pull herself up. Roran people chattered all around them about the odd sight. Tatsumi stared straight up at the sky with a look of concern on her angular face.

"The stars are off," The warrior woman mumbled. She crossed her muscular arms across her chest as she thought about the kingdom's star maps. The Triangle was nowhere to be seen and the Archer was in the wrong half of the sky.

"Right, it's spring. Those constellations are all in their fall positions." Queen Sari agreed. They were a nomadic people after the fall of the kingdom's capital and her mother hadn't drilled the stars for traveling by into her head at a young age for nothing. The queen shrugged, "We can worry about that later, the pulse is still..." The ground started to glow with lavender magic. "Yeah that."

Sari sprinted out of the garden followed by Tatsumi and the ninja fugitive. As they ran the chakra of the ley line continued to rise until they were effectively swimming in the Dragon Pulse energy. The queen slowed her breathing from the near panic her body wanted to be in from the feeling of being surrounded by a fluid but unable to rise to the surface. The lavender energy forced them to float a meter or so off of the ground and not much higher.

Unfortunately, Queen Sari was a poor swimmer due to her mostly desert upbringing with Tatsumi being only a little better. The ninja however swam like a fish, which was probably not that surprising given his shark-like appearance. The queen wrapped her arms around the ninja's neck and directed him through the new construction and the old ruins of the city. The captain of the guard followed to the best of her ability and since the other woman knew the way to the Shrine of the Dragon's Pulse, Sari wasn't too worried.

Thankfully the thick lavender magic didn't prevent them from swimming down into the near abandoned factories under the capital or even deeper into the ancient caverns. At their destination, Sari signaled the fugitive ninja to wait at the entrance of the chamber. At the door of the sacred chamber the thick chakra drained slowly into the pool under the shrine like sap leaking from a hole in a tree. The chakra pool itself glowed a deep violet and Sari frowned at the lack of knowledge of what the odd color ment for the pulse node, outside of lavender the only other color she'd been told to look out for was crimson red.

Her sandals slapped against hard stone as she crossed the bridge to the shrine at the center of the of the underground chamber. Her long hair flagged behind her as she ran. At the end of the bridge stood the Dragon's Shrine. Four stone priestesses stared down at the large eye shaped mound that formed the focal point of the leyline node. Black runes formed an angular rose around the earthen eye that glowed faintly as she approached. Before the sacred eye Sari fell to her knees, she placed her hands over its eyelids and sang the song her mother taught her to make the Dragon Pulse go dormant.

 _ **WHAT A PRETTY SONG, I HAVEN'T BEEN SUNG TO IN A WHILE .**_ The dragon's eye watched her drowsily, which caused the queen to go silent. Never in the history of the Roran kingdom had the Dragon Pulse ever spoke. Around her five more eyes opened around her and the earth turned darkest shade of plum that the girl had ever seen. From the pool of energy below rose a dark serpentine body trailing black tentacles. Enormous blue talons scratched the stone bridge, blocking off a rescue attempt from the ninja and the captain of her milita. Blue bull horns sprouted from the shrine forming something of a halo over the huge wolf-like head that Queen Sari found herself on. Six red eyes focused on the young queen and the beast continued to speak seemingly inside her head, _ **TELL ME, KID, WHAT KIND OF WORLD IS THIS?**_

 _~Today~_

"Konoha's beautiful at this time of year!" Queen Sari signed happily as she stood in the door of her wagon. Her personal caravan made good time crossing the islands of the Land of Sea even with the delays. Speaking of delays, the queen couldn't hide the mirth in her blue-violet eyes as she looked over her shoulder at her personal ninja bodyguard and at the Sea country stray napping on his lap. She giggled, "So, Hoshi-san you ready to tutor some Leaf ninja in Dragon Pulse basics."

The sharkman turned his attention from the trees outside to his queen. Well she assumed that he'd been looking out the window, he could have been sleeping with his eyes open for all she knew and she just woke him up. He stretched carefully as to not disturb the tired child using his scaly chest as a pillow.

"Hn, sure, I guess. Not really keen on it though." Kisame Hoshigaki yawned. "Might be leftover conditioning from my time in the Mist, but it kinda feels wrong giving our secrets to the enemy."

Sari shrugged and hopped into a seat on her side of the wagon. "I'll tell you like I told Tatsu-chan; I don't want my kingdom to end like the Land of Eddies did. The rest of the world feared the Uzumaki for their secret techniques. They destroyed the Whirlpool country and all but wiped those folks out. I like my people being alive so we give away our secrets to enough of those who ask so that if enemies come for us, we'll be attacked from fewer directions, we might even get assistance from allies. Besides, unless The Fool likes them or they have my blessing they won't be much good at using the Pulse."

"Hn, you've got a lot of faith in that thing keeping its word." Kisame huffed.

"Sometimes you just gotta trust your gut, Hoshi-san." The queen winked at her ninja. The shark man's grin widened and he patted the sleeping fish girl on the head. Well, the now awake fish girl who looked embarrassed about falling asleep around folks who were practically strangers. "Feeling better Isaribi-san?"

"Um, yes... Your Majesty." Isaribi replied. The girl's attitude was still very guarded but the Roran queen didn't expect total trust in less than a week. From what Kisame and Tatsumi told her, the girl has been a social pariah in her home country for a long time and that mad scientist missing nins had turned her into what she was now and manipulated her for even longer. It would take awhile for trust. The girl glanced around at the sights outside of the windows. "So where are we, if I may ask?"

Sari turned her attention to the window as they approached the village gate. She grinned, "Welcome to the Hidden Leaf ninja village! One of the five great ninja vi-er huh, someone's got some talent."

Past the village gate the entire main road was covered in colorful graffiti. Swear words, boobs, and cartoony poops littered the faces of storefronts and homes. Kisame whistled through his sharp teeth, "Either that or the Leafies have gotten lazy with their security."

It took another hour of travel to navigate the streets of the enormous village to get to the arena to set up camp. This time of year the arena wasn't in use, for the past six years the Hokage allowed their caravan to use it as a temporary base of operations during their Fox Hero festival. The only condition for their stay was that the Roran people behave themselves, share their interesting techniques, and get rid of the occasional demonic pests that have popped up in recent years. Still a permit was required to actually set up a festival because some people had problems with firecrackers and large burning effigies.

After her arrival the queen checked on the progress of the first part of her caravan that was already unpacking and pitching their tents. Queen Sari appointed responsible folks to setting up entertainment for the festival. At the same time the captain of her militia appointed a reasonable temporary replacement for herself from her squad of warrior women to be responsible for the safety of the caravan while they were out. Isaribi was left with a nanny to free up the queen's ninja bodyguard to do his job. Together the queen, Tatsumi, and Kisame headed for the Hokage building to fill out forms.

"You'd think that they'd gotten used to us by now, a Roran caravan passes through at least twice a year." Sari grumbled at the looks that the Leaf citizens were casting their way.

"Your Majesty, a six foot shark man and an even bigger draconic swordswoman are bound to draw the eye." Kisame suggested. He gave a bright friendly smile and wave at everyone he caught with their mouth open. Perhaps to make himself look less intimidating or perhaps to make himself seem more intimidating.

"They still gonna come to our camp and and try to learn our spells regardless if they think some of us are freaks. Hell, plenty of 'em are gonna show up with their kids to play games and buy shit and laugh at the silly kitsunes performing tricks despite the hatred of foxes here. We've got shit they want so they'll come get it." The captain of the Roran militia rumbled. Beside them Tatsumi walked, seemingly relaxed with her eyes closed and her arms crossed behind her bald head.

Other than being made to feel a bit out of place the trip was uneventful. Unfortunately, they had to wait to meet the Hokage. The waiting room was terribly boring and aside from some kid reading a book about "Do It Yourself: Home Repair", mostly empty. Since there was a lot of space and plenty of time to kill, Tatsumi and Sari practiced their sword kata while Kisame cleaned the scales of his weird living blade.

After half an hour they gained an audience of two. The kid had finished his book and watched the swordswomen with inhumanly dilated pupils. A blue crab that Sari's senses told her was some kind of demon waved its claws erratically from its perch upon the boy's head. The queen had a nagging feeling that she knew this kid from somewhere. As she went through the end of her sword forms she tried to pin down the reason the kid looked familiar. Fluffy yellow hair, bright blue eyes, bright orange clothes… whiskers? Three curved scars adorned both of the child's cheeks and reminded the young queen of the heroic figure that swept her mother off her feet.

"Are you guys foriegn ninja?" The kid asked and beamed them a grin. A grin that showed a mouthful of sharp teeth and long canines. Sari returned the smile without hesitation since she was used to running into fanged folks by this point.

"Kisame-san is a ninja in service to the kingdom of Roran," Tatsumi answered as she sheathed her sword. The sharkman looked up from his work and waved at the child when his name was mentioned. The bald woman crossed her muscular arms and pointed a thumb at herself, "I, on the other hand, am the supreme captain of the Roran national militia and the Dragon Sage."

"And I," The young woman interrupted the older woman's preening to introduce herself. "Am her Royal Majesty, Queen Sari of the kingdom of Roran. What's your name?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!" The boy shouted enthusiastically. He pointed at the small crustacean sitting on his head, "And this is my buddy Ichi, ya know?!" Then he got a thoughtful look on his face. "Are you sure you're a queen, miss, you're not really dressed like one? Like all the nobles and stuff I've seen usually have big stupid headdresses and super duper fancy clothes."

"Well, my mother decided that the Queen needed to be closer to her people and that the people should have more say in the goings on of the kingdom. So she decided to live among the common people and I'm following her example." Sari stated matter-o-factly. "Therefore, fancy robes and headdresses are reserved for special ceremonies."

"Also the royal duds get in the way of doing good old physical labor." Tatsumi added with the mirth of an untold joke shining in her golden eyes. The queen blushed in embarrassment and avoided her friend's gaze.

"Not to mention that anyone actually dressed like royalty and who travels on the road as much as we do, just paints a huge target on their back for bandits and thieves to go after." Kisame threw in his two cents. Just then the Hokage's secretary called the Roran company to tell them that the old ninja 'will see them now'.

"See ya later, Naru-chan and Ichi-san!" The queen waved goodbye to the kid and his demonic companion. Her guard followed suit with a polite wave as he fashioned his living sword to his back. Her soldier said nothing and gave the boy farewell peace sign in a cool kinda way. "If you've got nothing to do later, come to our festival! It's in the arena on the other side of the village."

Naruto waved back at the foreigners and went back to his book.

* * *

The queen was happy to see Naruto and his crab friend among the crowd as she played the role of her mother in the play about the Fox Hero. The boy's bright blue eyes stayed almost glued on the kitsune summon played the titular lead. Perhaps the kid recognised how similar the two of them looked, even so the boy was probably one of the loudest voices cheering as she opened the door to the Dragon's garden with the help of her people and led them to safety. Sari had to really try hard to suppress her smile at the way the child leapt out of his seat and shouted encouragements at the Fox Hero as he fought the giant puppet.

After the play, Sari hung out with her new little friend and they exchanged life stories. Her wallet discovered the kid's bottomless appetite as they partook in fair foods and traditional kitsune favorites. And speaking of kitsune! The fox summons were rather curious about the boy and his pet, especially their smell. The queen was rather surprised when they insisted that Naruto sign their summoning contract, but he seemed like a good kid so she allowed it. The kitsune even invited the boy in the lighting of the giant effigy of the traitorous puppet master whose actions nearly wiped out the Roran people many years ago.

Eventually the boy got tired and Sari decided to escort him to his home. She was a good enough actor and politician to keep the outrage out of her face and voice when Naruto admitted to having lived alone in his apartment for as long as he could remember. Hoshi-san was also good at keeping a game face he he examined the kitchen in the poorly kept place and the few contents of the cabinets and refrigerator. Tatsumi on the otherhand whent directly into moma bear mode and gently questioned the boy. When the warrior woman turned back to her queen she had a look on her face that said, this one needs us . Sari agreed but they'd have to go through the proper channels here.

* * *

"Excuse me, honorable Lord Hokage, I don't understand. He's an orphan, correct? So why isn't he up for adoption?"


End file.
